Single Sleuths
by dylanliferuinerobrien
Summary: Things in Beacon Hills are never what they seem. When residences of the Californian town fall victim to mysterious murders, Stiles Stilinski sees it as his duty, to get to the bottom of it. And now that super genius, Lydia Martin, is in the supernatural loop, the duo team up to help their friends. But when things can't be dealt with clinically and unemotionally, what will happen?
1. Fireflies

"Stiles.. Stiles are you in there? Helloo? Stiles?" Stiles felt a hand skim across his arm and start to softly shake him, "Stiles, you sleep like the dead. It's Lydia, come on wake up! Earth to Stiles!"

"Lydia..," Stiles breathed out, voice filled with sleep. "LYDIA? What the hell are you doing here?" he shrieked, while jutting out of bed, sending the sheets flying every which way. After a quick check over the state of himself, he thanked God he had decided to wear boxers to bed tonight.

"Not exactly the reaction I expected, when I decided to come over to your house at three in the morning," Lydia stated, as she jumped backed toward the door, "But now that we've both almost had a heart attack, I bet you're dying to know why I'm here."

Stiles cleared his throat, trying to pick up some of his manhood he had dropped, when he had squealed like a girl. During the time it took for him to sit up, and whip the sleep out of his eyes, Stiles carried out an assessment of Lydia. She was wearing silky pajamas, pink in color, with her hair pulled back in a sloppy bun. Although she had a smirk on her face, Stiles could see in her eyes, she was anxious, and the underneath of her eyes gave dead hints that she was exhausted.

"Back up a second, before we even get to why you're here, how are you here? My dad installed a security system earlier this week, top of the line! The box promised no one, not even a mouse, would be lurking after we installed the bad boy." After all the murders around Beacon Hills, his dad was encouraging the residents to invest in security, and being the Sherriff he thought it would be good to set an example. Little did he know, no amount of security would be strong enough to hold back those who were running rampant around town.

"Simple. I put in the code." She responded with a roll of her eyes, as if he should have known that, "It's not that hard Stiles don't look so impressed. And you, of all people, should know how pointless a security system is."

"I may know that, but my dad sure the hell doesn't. He thinks we have some lunatic-" Stiles chuckled at his bad pun and continued, "-psycho human running around killing all these people. Not an animal with fangs, claws, strength that would rival Chuck Norris, and oh- who just so happens to have a part-time gig as a human. Not exactly the easiest thing to notify him of."

And now after tonight, his dad would be facing even more questions, and instead of getting closer to answers he desperately was chasing, he would be drifting farther away from the truth. When Stiles arrived at the pool tonight, a crushing weight had fallen on his chest. Heather was still missing, and finding a dead body didn't exactly promise rainbows and princess in the near future. Instead, it led him to _her_ dead body, in the Beacon Hills Hospital morgue. The moment Ms. McCall indicated the dead female body, Stiles knew. As soon as he got back home, he locked himself in his room. Before facing his dad, before facing Scott, before facing anyone, he needed a moment to just face himself. Twenty minutes passed as he sat on his bed, staring at his wall, but seeing nothing at all. When he was done feeling sorry for himself, he called and left Scott a voicemail, telling him about his human sacrifice realization. Then numbly got undressed, laid down in bed, and prayed for sleep to come. His body caved under the stress and exhaustion and he was out. Until a voice, coming straight from his dreams, caused him to awake.

"But back to you, what are you doing here?" Stiles asked Lydia, while scooting over in his bed, to make room so she could sit.

Lydia's face turned serious now, as she slowly walked across Stiles' room, and sat next to him. The humor of the last minute had vanished, and was replaced with a dark and serious undercurrent. "When I sent you out of my room earlier, I thought I'd be okay. After all I've seen in the last few months, what's one more dead body right? But as soon as I closed my eyes, every detail came back to me. Well not every detail, considering I don't even know how the hell I got to the pool, but you know what I mean," Lydia was quivering, but anger was starting to fill her voice, "How the hell did this become our lives, Stiles? We're only human. How much more of this can we take?" As she finished, her head sank into her hands, and Stiles could hear her trying to contain her tears.

Stiles moved closer to Lydia, placed his hand on her back, and started moving it in slow circles, "It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out. We'll stop it. With you, the town super genius, in the loop, we'll probably be laughing about this all next week,"

Lydia looked up, one eye brow raised, "Like you really believe that. I may be new to the supernatural, but as you said I'm a genius, and I know this isn't going to be solved with a few snaps of my wrist. This is too big for us." Stiles sighed, and Lydia took it as an admission, that what she was saying is true. "That's what I thought, but I didn't come here to whine about it, I just, I couldn't be alone. Not after tonight. Is it okay if I stay, here, with you?"

Stiles cleared his throat, which resulted in him becoming more tongue tied, and he started having a coughing attack. Lydia watched him, a slow smile starting to spread on her face. After finally recovering, Stiles responded, "Is that really a question? Of course you can stay here, anytime, door is always open, just think of it as an open door policy, easy access, no need to ask, I'm rambling aren't I? I'll just shut it now. My mouth I mean, not the door. Door is still open.. as I said."

Five minutes later, Lydia was lying in his bed. Lydia Martin. Lying. In his bed. Although the circumstances weren't exactly conventional, she was there none the less. Stiles lay on the far side of the bed, trying not to touch or disturb her. He didn't want her to think he couldn't control himself, he knew she was there just as a friend. Friends laid in the same bed together right?

"Stiles," Lydia spoke for the first time since lying down, "this is your bed, and you don't have to be laying on an inch of it. Anyways, I didn't come here to lay by myself; I could do that at home. So man up, and come over here." Stiles mouth dropped. Well okay, he had read that situation wrong. He awkwardly repositioned until they were spooning, but now he didn't know where to put his hand. Was over her waist going too far? But before he could worry anymore about it, Lydia reached back and pulled his hand over her body, and laced her fingers into his. Stiles laid there in shock for what seemed like forever, reveling in the fact that Lydia had decided to come to him tonight. When Lydia spoke again, her voice was slow and calm, "Even when I decided to come here earlier, I didn't think I'd be able to sleep tonight. Now I actually feel myself drifting. Thanks, for letting me stay.. for coming tonight when I called.. for always looking out for me." Not five seconds later, Lydia's breathing was even and peaceful, soundly asleep. With her lying under his arm, Stiles felt her calm seep into him, and soon he was drifting back into slumber.

* * *

Hours later, Wannabe by the Spice Girls, started blaring, notifying Stiles that Scott was calling. Disoriented, Stiles started flailing around searching for his phone. Usually it was somewhere in his bed, but instead of a plush pillow, his hand was connecting with something solid. Suddenly everything rushed back into his mind. He was wide awake now, and staring down at Lydia's sleeping form. In sleep, she looked utterly serene, like an angel. With Wannabe still playing, Stiles finally spotted his phone on his nightstand. Problem was, the night stand was on the opposite side of the bed. Not wanting to wake Lydia, Stiles overextended his body, reaching for the phone. Just as his hand connected with his phone, Lydia bolted straight up, with a gasp. Still needing to answer the phone, Stiles grabbed the phone and fell back on his side of the bed.

As soon as he picked up the phone Scott began talking, "Stiles what's going on, I've called you about ten times in the past hour. I got your message, human sacrifices? How do you figure that?"

"Oh you know, just came to my overactive brain. I read a lot! But anyways, I need to show you the bodies, so you can understand what I mean." Stiles responded, while looking over at Lydia. She was already standing, and looking for her shoes.

"I need to swing by my house to clean up a bit, but then I'll be over to pick you up. Give me a half hour." Scott told Stiles.

"Right now's not really a good time-" Stiles started to respond but Lydia started shaking her head, indicating that she wanted him to go, "Um.. well never mind, okay yeah that's fine." After a quick goodbye, Stiles hung up the phone.

Now that they were facing each other in the daylight, awkwardness struck Stiles. Lydia on the other hand seemed back to her normal self. "Do you see my slippers anywhere? I'm supposed to be at Allison's in fifteen minutes. She thinks I need to learn how to use a bow. Why I need to know, when I can just hire her as my body guard, I don't know." While talking she had found her slippers halfway under the bed, and was already heading towards the door.

"Lydia, wait!" As Stiles screamed, she stopped in her tracks, with her hand on the doorknob.

As she turned around, Stiles could see that, although her voice sounded peppy, she was far from fine. "Stiles, I appreciate you letting me stay here last night, but Scott needs you, Allison's expecting me, and I need to suck it up. I'm a big girl, if you didn't know. I should be able to handle this on my own," Stiles opened his mouth, about to object but Lydia cut him off, "Stiles, really. I'm going to go. I'd say have a good time, but considering you're going to look at dead bodies, I think fun is ruled out." At this she waved and started walking out of his room, midway down the hallway though, she tracked back to his room, and pulled him into a hug. Stiles leaned his head on top of hers, holding her in place. Too soon, Lydia was backing away. She gave him a small grin, and with that was gone. Leaving Stiles to wonder what the hell had just happened.


	2. Unleashed

**AN: I was blown away by all of you that favorited, and followed this story, and I just wanted to thank you all so much!** **Sorry for the late update, but here it is!**

* * *

A distraction. That was all Lydia was looking for, now more than ever. Jackson sudden departure from Beacon Hills had left her empty, and when last weeks "episode" of hers ended with Stiles in his room, she knew things were getting too emotional again. One night of friendly support leads to another night of confessed feelings, and that was the _last_ thing she needed to complicate her life. In the past three months, she had come to need and lean on Stiles, they'd finally been able to move past his crush on her, and become friends. So when she turned the corner to her locker, and saw Aiden waiting for her, Lydia sighed with relief. This was exactly what she needed. New guy, no strings attached, perfect candidate for a rebound.

"Tonight then?" Lydia couldn't help but chuckle. This one was easy, after a few minutes of flirting he was already caving in, and although she wanted a painless distraction, that didn't mean all of the fun of the chase had to be sucked out. Easy was not an adjective to describe Lydia Martin. After a quick pat of his chest, Lydia strutted down the hallway to her first hour class.

* * *

After acing a pop quiz in Calculus, and breezing through her morning classes, Lydia decided to walk outside to her next class, on the other side of the grounds. Next thing she knows, Stiles is walking beside her and jumping right into his newest theory. Having grown use to Stiles' ability to ramble, Lydia continued walking, giving him only the minimum amount of her interest.

"-Because Scott's dealing with the Alpha twins," At the mention of twins, Lydia's head stopped in her tracks and turned to Stiles, who now had her full attention. "You don't know about the twins?"

"Alphas?" Lydia questioned, needing to hear conformation of what she thought Stiles was saying.

"Ethan and Aiden." Lydia was more surprised by how _unsurprised_ she was to hear this new development. After the past three months, she had adapted to the everyday plot twists, her life tended to throw at her. And with this new information, things started clicking into place. No guy as attractive as Aiden, was as easy as Aiden had been this morning. Meaning, Aiden had alterative motives for coming onto her, but two could play that game. If he was sent to keep tabs on her, she would just have to do the same.

After making a quick recovery in which Lydia pretended she knew all along about Aiden and Ethan, Stiles continued on his sacrificial fun fact rampage. A few moments later, Lydia reached her breaking point with his need for an instant solution to come popping out of her mouth, "Maybe it's not your job. You said if yourself; they were strangled with a garret, that's a human thing to do. So, maybe just leave the figuring out part to someone human."

"You mean someone like my dad?" Stiles asked, as if that was an impossible to comprehend.

"No," Sometimes Lydia really had no idea what went through his mind, "I mean your dad, the Sherriff." The bell then rang, great, now she was late. Lydia began to walk away. But Stiles didn't take the bell as the end of their conversation.

"That's _us_ too Lydia. We're the humans. How can you just brush this aside? We can help."

"We can also _die_ Stiles. Don't you get that?" Lydia snapped, turning back to Stiles. "Or are you so naïve to believe that there's always going to be someone, racing around the corner, to save you?"

"You think I don't know that?" Stiles countered, his voice no longer full of persuasion but anger, "I've only had about 25 near death experiences in the last year. I think I'm aware of the possibilities, but unlike you I can't sit back and watch my friends, or my dad put their lives on the line, while I'm just sitting on the sidelines keeping score." Before the last word had even left his mouth, Stiles was walking away. Lydia reached out to him, but connected with empty space, where moments ago his hand had been.

"Stiles, stop!" Lydia yelled after him, but he was already gone.

* * *

As much as Stiles didn't want to admit it, Lydia had struck a nerve. Having the fears that had been on a constant loop through his head the past year, being thrown in his face had brought out urgency in him. Without a second more of thought, Stiles was in his car, heading to Deaton's. With Scott having bigger fish to fry at the moment, Deaton was the only person with knowledge on the supernatural, to turn to. Unluckily, after arriving at Deaton's, Stiles realized that just because Deaton had the knowledge, didn't mean he would be willing to share it. And if he did share any information, there was a good chance it was hidden in between the lines. While still trying to squeeze information out of Deaton, Stiles' phone began to beep. After a glance at the caller ID, he saw it was Lydia.

"Hey, I can't talk right now," Stiles answered before hearing a word of what Lydia had to say.

"Trust me, you're going to want to hear what I have to say," Lydia claimed, with a shaking voice.

"What, did something happen? Are you okay?" No matter how mad at Lydia he was, Stiles couldn't help but feel his heart constrict at the thought of her in danger.

"Just because I call you, doesn't mean I've landed in the Saw movies," Lydia snapped back, now sounding annoyed.

"I actually picture you in Scream," he retorted, "but if your life isn't in mortal danger and you don't need me to come and sweep you off your feet, why'd you call?"

"I might not need you to sweep me off my feet, but someone else already has been. Someone's been taken." Lydia then went on to explain how she discovered the missing music teacher.

"I'll be there in five minutes, don't move." Stiles instructed, before he hung up his phone.

As he started to walk out of clinic, he saw Deaton shrugging into his coat, "I heard the whole thing. I'm coming with you."

Of course, _now_ Deaton wanted to help. Stiles grumbled, but allowed it. The two jogged to the jeep, and were off to Beacon Hills High.

* * *

A half hour later, the three were nowhere closer to the answers they were searching for. After arriving at the school, they had only discovered more bad news; Harris had also been taken. And while Stiles had never been his biggest fan, that didn't mean he wanted him to be brought into the crazy supernatural.

"I need to get back to the office. There's nothing more I can do here. We're too late to help." Deaton told Stiles and Lydia, who then shared a look conveying a mutual distrust of Deaton. As Deaton exited the classroom, the two were left alone for the first time since their fight earlier in the day.

The second the door shut, Lydia entered a tirade, "I take it back- all of it. You were right, although that is the first and last time I will ever admit that, so you better appreciate it now. I remember reading a book about all this mythology a few summers ago, and I don't remember the details, but I feel like Deaton isn't letting us in on all of them. I'd say it's time for us to do some investigating of our own."

"Stilinski and Martin: Super Sleuths. Sounds good to me, nice to have you on board. I vote we wear black cat suits, and break into the library tonight to research." Stiles responded, while covering his mouth and trying to hold back a laugh.

"I'm serious Stiles!" Lydia exclaimed, while gently hitting his hand away from his face. "And while I know I could pull off the cat suit, I don't think you could. This may sound crazy but how about we go to the library now, while it's open. Just imagine the disappointment on your dads face if he finds you breaking into a school library. What kind of teen rebellion is that?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Stiles mocked back to Lydia, "Well we better go now; I only have a half hour left of free period."

* * *

"Stiles you have that face again." The two had been searching in the library for any book at all relating to Celtic mythology, but for the past five minutes Stiles had been stealing glances at her, and not the hopeless romantic kind she was use to. The looks were brooding, and filled with questions.

"It happened again. You, showing up somewhere with no memory of it." Stiles stated, as if Lydia hadn't realized this for herself.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the pointer Stiles." Lydia said with mock enthusiasm. "You know as much as I do. If I knew how I kept showing up, I'd tell you."

"Yeah…" He said, slightly reassuring. Although who he was reassuring; himself, or Lydia, it wasn't clear. Realizing how he sounded, Stiles cleared his throat, "I mean, yeah. Of course, I know you would, I just don't get it."

Hearing Stiles question her stung Lydia on a level she didn't even know he could reach. Not wanting to feel his doubt anymore, Lydia pretended she had to get to class.

"You still have 10 minutes until Physics, what are you talking about?" Lydia gave him a pointed look and he continued, "What? I have your schedule memorized."

"And with that slightly creepy comment, I'm going to go. Let me know if you find anything useful in that stack," she told him, as she pointed to a three foot high leaning stack of books.

"You're going to leave me to put all of those back by myself," Stiles groaned as he looked over at the books, but by the time he looked back, Lydia was already gone.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! And I hope the little Scream joke I had Stiles make during their phone call, came across while reading. :)**


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